Miracle Control

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Originally Posted by smurfy

One question i have is how fast should i be topping? i tried my best to be as quick as possible when doing it, as i have seen people play the deck painfully slowly but i obviously want to make sure im not making horrific misplays. I want to keep a good pace up and get in that habit so that it sticks, is it worth taking my time the first few weeks though?

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Welcome to the Miracles thread. Miracles is known to have long and steep learning curve. According to PV, it's the second hardest deck to pilot (Storm is first). Your goal should be to SDT faster. To SDT at opponent's EoT is strictly better than not doing it; Hence you have to do it every time. Long story short, the top 3 cards in Miracles deck should be the extension of your hand. You should know the top 2 cards at all times after the draw phase of your own turn. Everyone is slow at first, just take the criticism and try to get out of learning curve.

Ideally, you want to top at Ein's speed, demonstrated here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFpkhOauo8

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Originally Posted by Lans89

Small question: How do you board vs Infect? Or how did Phillip during the semi finals? I think at least 2 Jaces can go. But I have more cards that I want to bring in!

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Cut all of them postboard. Jace is really bad against Infect. Try to play as few wincons as possible and board in all your cheap interaction (Flusterstorm, REB etc.) and removal. I play one Entreat the Angels and board the other one out. You win the game via outlasting them and virtual card advantage, because pump spells and softcounters will become worse the longer the game goes.

Dig Through Time is at its best against Infect, getting card advantage and card selection at instant speed is very good.

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Originally Posted by smurfy

...I hate Cavern of Souls and Aether vial. not being able to counter ...

...Man lands are actually an issue...

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Welcome to blue control. If any of your friends play Vial Goblins I'd suggest playing a few games with them. It will give you a brief glimpse into the history of blue mages in Legacy.

Played the Ein Stock list yesterday with a few differences:

-1 Ponder, -1 Council's Judgement, -1 Counterbalance, +1 Counterspell (so 2 maindeck), +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 REB.
I often feel like the deck can have some "rug-like" draws where you draw all air, which just finds more air, so I wanted another high impact card.
Also, my meta is full of combo, where those two cards just perform better.

I really liked the 2 counterspells.
My current package, of counters, is 4 FoW, 2 CSpell, 1 REB and 3 CB (with the 4th in the board).

I went 4-0, beating BUG Delver (with hymn and liliana), Infect, RUG Delver and Omnitell.

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Originally Posted by Adryan

Cut all of them postboard. Jace is really bad against Infect. Try to play as few wincons as possible and board in all your cheap interaction (Flusterstorm, REB etc.) and removal. I play one Entreat the Angels and board the other one out. You win the game via outlasting them and virtual card advantage, because pump spells and softcounters will become worse the longer the game goes.

Dig Through Time is at its best against Infect, getting card advantage and card selection at instant speed is very good.

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Thanks! Didn't play against Infect today. I think the Cliques won't fit in that matchup? I lost 1-2 to BUG Delver, won 2-0 vs Reanimator & Lands, but then lost to Burn and dropped :rolleyes:

Hi,

anyone tried Dig though time again? I played it today in a 5 round tournement and the result was that I just loved to have it instead of the 3rd Jace. The reason is that it adds so much felxibility to the deck because it effectly costs only 2 thanks to the cantrips and fetchlands we play. Also it draws 2 cards and digs 7 deep . The result is that you can find answers very easy to any given problem and since it is instant speed you also can setup an finish when finding entreat or brainstorm or both if you don´t have one of them in your hand. It also finds you the missing part for your soft lock.

So I will contiue to test it but at the moment it feels really good because it helps in situations were jace is dead.

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Originally Posted by Teveshszat

Hi,

anyone tried Dig though time again? I played it today in a 5 round tournement and the result was that I just loved to have it instead of the 3rd Jace. The reason is that it adds so much felxibility to the deck because it effectly costs only 2 thanks to the cantrips and fetchlands we play. Also it draws 2 cards and digs 7 deep . The result is that you can find answers very easy to any given problem and since it is instant speed you also can setup an finish when finding entreat or brainstorm or both if you don´t have one of them in your hand. It also finds you the missing part for your soft lock.

So I will contiue to test it but at the moment it feels really good because it helps in situations were jace is dead.

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What you are proposing is not entirely unheard of. I know a decent amount of people are also doing this. Make no mistake Dig Through Time is a pretty good card itself and fits well with what Miracles is trying to do. With that said, in playing two Dig in the 4 Ponder build, it felt like the deck might have had a bit too much "air". While Jace is quite bad in a good amount of MUs, he's still a substantial win con while Dig Through Time is just a powerful value cantrip. I should say that the deck having too much air with the configuration you speak of was my feeling when I tried it out for a little. It's very possible I'm wrong and we should just be playing the second Dig instead of third Jace so do continue testing it. But it might also be meta dependent. Jace is known to be one of our best cards against BUG Decks, an archetype that is starting to see a rise again so there's probably an argument to be made for playing the third jace for that reason alone.

Hey guys got a question for ya. Going to a tournament in the morning at my local shop. From a buddy who plays legacy there often he said there are a few DnT/dredge/deathblade/elves decks running around along with a few miracles as well. What would you make as a sideboard to combat this meta? I finally am able to borrow some cards and fill in the gaps in my manabase with shocks so I'm playing this for the first time. I could really use some thoughts on some decent sideboard choices.

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Originally Posted by Syntex

Hey guys got a question for ya. Going to a tournament in the morning at my local shop. From a buddy who plays legacy there often he said there are a few DnT/dredge/deathblade/elves decks running around along with a few miracles as well. What would you make as a sideboard to combat this meta? I finally am able to borrow some cards and fill in the gaps in my manabase with shocks so I'm playing this for the first time. I could really use some thoughts on some decent sideboard choices.

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Snapcaster Mage sounds good. Don't forget your antiequipment hate also works against half of the DnT deck.

Picked up Miracles again after a nearly two-month hiatus, using a list similar to the one that Einherjer recommended in his most recent SCG article. Won a 51-person local tournament, taking home four Underground Seas. Here's a brief summary.

R1 - Esper Deathblade (2-1)

G1: I keep a strong hand on 7 and after getting my T1 Top pierced, I make land drops while casting Swords to Plowshares on three Stoneforge Mystics. Somewhere in here, things went all wrong when my end of turn Dig Through Time eats a Force, and two straight Ponders results in shuffles into topdeck lands. I use a couple of naturally revealed Terminuses to clear away a Germ token instead of using my Swords to Plowshares in hand, but a True-Name Nemesis with a Jitte on two counters (from a previous Germ token) swing punishes me. I probably could have played this much better, although I wasn't expecting the game to play out the way it did.
G2: I have a strong hand with plenty of removal for all his threats and bury him in Jace advantage.
G3: I keep a somewhat loose hand with a bunch of lands, a Terminus, and a Jace. He plays three Deathrite Shamans, but there are very few lands or spells in either graveyard. I play a Snapcaster Mage without any targets in my graveyard to chump block, but that eats an Abrupt Decay. I have Wear/Tear for his Pithing Needle to free up my Top and play a series of Ponders. The last one shuffles away a few bricks and draws into Terminus, which I hardcast with exactly 6 lands. I manage to stabilize at 4 life before Jace finishes him off.

R2 - Burn (0-2)

G1: I mull a 7 with no lands and keep a decent 6 with some cantrips and a Top. Goblin Guide and Swiftspear beat me upside the head before I set up a Terminus, but he follows that up with another Guide and another Swiftspear.
G2: I mull a 7 with no lands and keep a loose 6 with just one land and a Brainstorm (plus a Flusterstorm and some other interaction). I allow T1 Swiftspear to resolve instead of trying to Brainstorm for a Force, instead casting it on turn 2 instead to dig deeper. I manage to Brainstorm lock myself (but would have found the Force). I die a few turns later without doing anything.

I have a reputation for losing to Burn when I play Miracles, so my friends have a lot of fun at my expense. I tell them to fuck off.

R3 - Infect (2-0)

G1: He has a grindy start with Inkmoth Nexus beats, but I manage to remove it before too much damage is done. I manage to trade a turn 3 Counterbalance with two Dazes, but I eventually stick another one and Jace takes over the game after we trade Force of Wills.
G2: He has another grindy start with Inkmoth Nexus and eventually Pendelhaven, but when I'm at 3 counters, he goes for the Invigorate. I try a Swords in this situation, and he plays Vines in response with one mana open. I have three mana available, with Dig Through Time, Force of Will, and REB in hand, and I decide to cast Dig to try to get ahead, since I'm pretty sure I'll manage to hit a blue card in my top 7. I am rewarded when the Force of Will also baits out his last card, which trades with my REB. We play draw go for about 15 turns, both running out of fetchable lands. He ends up playing a threat, and I have a Snapcaster Mage, and opt to flashback Dig instead of going for removal, since I feel I'm falling behind again. I manage to hit removal and I play a very conservative Entreat for two Angels in order to hold up a fistful of counters.

R4 - Death's Shadow (2-1)

G1: He starts with Delver into Hymn, which causes us to exchange Forces. His Hymn hits my second land, and while I'm fortunate that his Delver doesn't flip for a few turns, I need to use my Swords on his follow-up Deathrite because the Dig in my hand is my only way of recovering from his Hymn. He rips another Hymn before I can stabilize (and it would have been very hard for me to do so).
G2: I have a lot of removal, while he doesn't have too much pressure. Jace takes over the game, and eventually I also find an Entreat. He reveals a Notion Thief at some point, so I know I need to be super careful in G3.
G3: He leads with Deathrite, but I Flusterstorm his Turn 2 Ponder, and his Brainstorm (off Deathrite mana) bricks on lands, so I feel pretty far ahead. However, I whiff on drawing anything relevant for a few turns, and all of a sudden, I'm under the gun. I play a Jace when he's tapped out, and it somehow resolves, allowing me to Brainstorm my Terminus on top of my library. Jace gets killed by a flipped Delver, but Terminus resets his board, and I manage to stick another Jace (that I knew was on top) with him having a mana open. It takes the game from there, although he later reveals Surgical Extraction which he was contemplating using after killing my first Jace.

R5 - RUG Delver (2-1)

G1: He's on the play, and a combination of Stifle and Wasteland prevent me from doing anything before he quickly kills me as the tempo plan works to perfection.
G2: I resolve an early Top without much other gas, but it gives me excellent card selection. A revealed Terminus threatens to clear his Goose, eating a Stifle, which gives me an opening to play Counterbalance. Vendilion Clique trades with the Goose, and he quickly concedes.
G3: His T1 Delver meets a Swords, and he has an early opening and takes me down to 8 before I stabilize with two Cliques blocking a Delver and a Goose across two different turns. Eventually, I stick a Counterbalance with Top in play, and he rips Krosan Grip. Unfortunately, this happened the turn after I drew the second Clique, but fortunately, he goes after my Counterbalance instead of Top (which is probably correct from his perspective), as I had a backup copy of Counterbalance. I stick that Counterbalance and eventually a second Top and another copy of Counterbalance, floating a bunch of removal, but taking forever to find a win condition. Eventually, an Entreat for two with approximately a million mana available is enough to get there.

R6 - Lands (2-1)

We both have poor breakers, so we're forced to play this out.
G1: He has Ports and Ghost Quarter, but never manages to get a ramp effect on line and doesn't get to use Loam too much before I get Counterbalance and Top online while floating a two-drop. I stick a Jace and he gets fatesealed out of the game.
G2: I have a pretty solid hand with multiple Forces, cantrips, and Tops. He just makes a bunch of land drops and goes for the combo on turns 5 or 6. I am unable to find any Swords (all of which I kept in the deck) despite all my cantripping, and when he goes for it, I play Snapcaster into Brainstorm to try to dig into the Swords, which whiffs. I realize I punted the game, since I had the ability to make Entreat for two Angels to chump, especially as I was holding a Jace in hand. Almost certainly my worst mistake of the tournament.
G3: He gets Exploration early with Loam and Thicket, while I set up with a bunch of cantrips through his Ports (which eventually numbered three plus Thespian Stage representing a fourth copy). I wanted to play a Clique to take away a possible Krosan Grip in his hand before resolving Counterbalance, but I am forced to jam the latter a bit earlier than I wanted to because I felt the game spiraling out of control and because I had fortuitously found a two-drop in my top 3. Nonetheless, the Counterbalance stuck. I was forced to shuffle away my top 3 anyway, but the top 3 cards of my library found a Wear/Tear, which I floated on top long enough for my Snapcaster and Clique to finish him off.

T8 - Aluren (2-0)

I am rewarded for having to play out the final round of Swiss with the top overall seed.
G1: I keep a reasonable hand with a Brainstorm and a Snapcaster, which allows me to dance around his Cabal Therapies, in addition to finding another Brainstorm. I also manage to stick a Top, and after he sacrifices a Baleful Strix to flashback Cabal Therapy, I find a second Force (to pair with a copy he had seen earlier), a Jace, and a Counterbalance. I keep Force and Counterbalance, hiding Jace above the second Force on my library. He names Jace, but is dismayed when I immediately slam it on my turn. I am able to show him a 2- and a 4-drop, rendering his Volrath's Stronghold and his primary combo plan useless, and he concedes soon afterwards.
G2: I have a strong hand with Brainstorm, Top, and Force, but the Top is taken out of my hand with a Thoughtseize. My Brainstorm soon finds another one, in addition to a Counterbalance, but he has a Reclamation Sage to blow up that plan. He threatens to grind me out by chaining Imperial Recruiters (while flashing back Therapies), and then he sets up the combo turn with a Thoughtseize, which meets a Counterspell from me, leaving me with just Wear/Tear and Force of Will in hand with no other blue card, but a Top on the battlefield. Thanks to Carpet of Flowers, he is able to play the Aluren, and I decide to fetch a Volcanic to go with my untapped Plains, but decide against searching for a blue card to Force his Aluren. He goes for the kill with the Imperial Recruiter in hand that I knew about, and I demystify his Aluren in response. His Imperial Recruiter searches up Eternal Witness, but he is unable to cast it. I spin the top on the end of his turn and find an Entreat and a Jace. Entreat for 3 on my draw step puts him on a two turn clock. I know I flipped my Top draw the Jace to pitch-cast the Force of Will on the Aluren he bought back from the graveyard, but I can't remember what else happened to buy me the extra turn to win the game, but I breathe a sigh of relief as I was very lucky to close this one out in G2.

T4 - Death and Taxes (2-1)

G1: I'm not sure what he's on, but I lead off with a Karakas to avoid exposing my only blue source (Tundra) to Wasteland. He immediately Wastes it and then plays out a Mother of Runes. I play a Ponder and find a land and a Terminus, but which would cause me to miss a land drop, but it pays off as the Terminus trades for his Mother and a Thalia. He goes aggro on me with two Flickerwisps while Porting me down, but an upkeep Snapcaster (in response to Port) allows me to replay my Ponder, which finds my fourth Terminus (two were stranded in my opening 7). Eventually, I make enough land drops and sweep the board enough to check his aggro, and a combination of Jace and Entreat close the game.
G2: I keep a hand with a Tarn, Karakas, Top, and Ponder, among other cards, but he leads with a Wasteland into Vial. My plan was to fetch for an Island to cast Ponder, finding more land drops, and eventually taking the game over. Instead, I drew a Wear/Tear and tried to get cute, hoping to set up a turn 2 Shatter on his Vial. I get punished when he has two Mother of Runes, a second Wasteland, and a Thalia, and I'm unable to cast spells the rest of the game. In retrospect, my line of play was a significant mistake, and I'm going to slap myself the next time I try to out-tempo Death and Taxes.
G3: This is a long drawn-out game where I sweep the board a few times and gain value with Snapcaster Mage and Jace, but his combination of Vial, Thalia, Karakas, and Sword of Fire and Ice cause serious issues. An Entreat for two put me ahead, but he baited out my Counterspell with Stoneforge Mystic and then followed up with Ratchet Bomb. I am forced to use Jace to Brainstorm into an answer multiple times, and fortunately, it appears he didn't run Spirit of the Labyrinth. Eventually, I find my own Karakas to hold back his Thalia, and then a Council's Judgment to deal with his Aether Vial (which I prioritized over his Sword of Fire and Ice). I gradually pull ahead with a lot of removal, and I start bouncing Snapcaster Mages with Jace so that I can flashback the Counterspells or Forces of Will in my graveyard to deal with a Cataclysm. Eventually, I was able to out-attrition him, and a late Dig Through Time was essentially a double Demonic Tutor by that stage in the game. Entreat for two closed him out, and I had a Force of Will in hand, plus the ability to Snapcaster-Counterspell for his Cataclysm, although I almost punted by not casting Snapcaster Mage in his first main phase after he Ported me down to two Islands and two Plains.

F - Reanimator (2-1)

G1: I have a hand with my one-of Karakas, Counterbalance, Jace, and enough lands to cast them. This allows me to jam my Counterbalance on turn 2 with very little fear (met a Brainstorm in response, but resolved). His Careful Study gets countered by a blind Top, and the combination of Counterbalance, Top, Jace, and the sandbagged Karakas closes out the game.
G2; He goes for Entomb on Turn 1 and a Reanimate on Turn 2. I have cantrips but no answer. My opponent is a friend who I've tested against, and he plays an unconventional list that has a semi-transformational board plan into a more beatdown-oriented strategy, so I kept a weak hand that would have lined up well against a slower Game 2. It appears didn't transform into the beatdown plan, so I took out my Terminuses and put in Cliques and Entreats for G3. I know that Terminus sounds ridiculous against Reanimator, but I can confidently say it's a good plan against this particular build.
G3: I keep a one-lander with Flusterstorm, Wear/Tear, two Brainstorms, Force of Will, and Snapcaster Mage. I play Tundra and pass. He plays fetchland and passes. I consider Brainstorming at the end of his turn, but instead wait until the main phase of my second turn. He responds with Entomb, and I cast Force (pitching my freshly drawn Jace) and cross my fingers. My Brainstorm hits only a basic plains, which I reluctantly play. I have no defense for his Turn 2 Entomb. At some point early, I am unable to hold open my Tundra (presumably since I went cantripping for another land), but fortunately for me, his reanimation effect is an Animate Dead, the only card I could disrupt with only a basic Plains open: I cast Tear on the Animate Dead with the trigger on the stack. Eventually, I am able to play Top, which finds me more lands and an Entreat for two that trades with his Force of Will. I also find a Force of Will, which I unfortunately have to burn on a Pack Rat (that he brought back in for game 3); he Forces back, but my Flusterstorm wins the counter war. Eventually, I play a Counterbalance and then a Clique (which eats Abrupt Decay, as he valued the clock over the Counterbalance). By the end of the game, I have a Jace, a Containment Priest, two Counterbalances, two Tops, and a Snapcaster Mage in hand for any sheanigans, and I manage to counter two hardcast Griselbrands and a hardcast Tidespout Tyrant. The game certainly ended with me in a dominant position, but it did not reflect how vulnerable I was for the first five turns or so of the game.

So a big tournament was announced near me and I am terrible at keeping promises to myself. After some discussion, we have come up with a list for me to cry over.

Permanents: 14
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Spells: 25
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
1 Council's Judgement
4 Force of Will
4 Terminus
1 Dig Through Time
1 Entreat the Angels

Lands: 21
2 Plains
4 Island
1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra (3 Hallowed Fountain)
2 Volcanic Island (1 Steam Vents)

Sideboard
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
1 Council's Judgment
1 Wear // Tear
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rest in Peace
3 Vendilion Clique

The main points to consider here:

1) 4x Jace, 1x Entreat. The standard has always been double Entreat, but the card has been less and less impactful recently. This feels so counterintuitive, as the pressure has been coming from the Abrupt Decay + Guys decks, but I figure Jace is the best card ever printed, so it can't be that bad.

2) 2x Counterspell. This has been a bug deal for me for a while. I played Counterspell right at the beginning of my Legacy life. After watching my friend (Ross) play the deck, it felt like the only card I ever needed. He started telling me how double Counterspell was the real deal, so I started playing with it on and off. Around a year later it became a standard for me. The card is so very powerful in so many matchups. In G1 it's good against so many decks, and you definitely get people who don't play around the second.

3) 4x Swords, 4x Terminus. I have messed around with these numbers before now, and sometimes cutting an StP is cool in combo-heavy metas, but combo is never so prevelant that you can afford to cut too many. Six is the absolute minimum, and I'd now never cut down below 7 without something absurd happening. I have also played with Verdict main, but that feels very clunky. If you're dominated by Spell Pierce + threats it can help a lot, but I'm leaving it in the sideboard in pretty much every iteration.

4) 1x Council's Judgement. This is the Red Blast slot. I just don't feel like we can main deck them at this point, as people are shifting away from the decks it's good against, mainly the mirror. If every tournament was still filled with UW Control I'd be jamming two in, as I love having cards that edge against the mirror, but it's too risky.

5) 1x Dig Through Time. The card's broken, I'm working on adding more. I am horrible.

6) 3x Tundra, 2x Volc. I've been the other way around for ages now, but there's an uptick in the double Wasteland decks, where the extra White really helps, especially with Council's Judgement now main-decked.

(Sideboard)

7) 2x Spell Pierce. It's basically a 1-mana Counterspell against a wide range of decks, we often suffer in the early game against cards like Liliana, Bitterblossom, and Sylvan Library. It also has use in the mirror, ensuring no super quick Tops/Balances land, and can help us keep Jaces off the board and protect our own. It very much does not win most counterwars, but can definitely help start them.

8) 1x Counterspell. Because Nine Inch Nails are my favourite band. (They're not.) No-one beats triple Counterspell. If your opponent is casting anything that costs two or three, Counterspell is good. If they're casting anything bigger it is totally absurd.

9) 1x Entreat the Angels. I have been overall disappointed with the card, but we are still UW Control, and Serra Angel is still a bomb. It helps to close out games at a pace that Jace and even Clique just cannot. Upping to two for Combo is too valuable to give up.

10) 3x Vendilion Clique. One of my favourite Creatures ever printed for a reason. Cycles dead cards to find answers, disrupts synergy decks, blocks smaller things like greedy Bobs, and provides some pressure, at the very least softening people up so there's less pressure on Entreatong for 1,000 Angels.

_____

That's my list for the upcoming format. I'm hoping that it shifts slightly and I can squeeze the REB back into the main over the Judgment, as that is an overall better meta for us, and REBing Counterbalances never gets old.

I am having problems to beat merfoks ( with chalice of the void main deck). Am i doing something wrong?

What i do

1. I alwayes FOW their firts aether vial. For me is by far their best card against us.

2. With ponder build, i side thiss way
-1 counterspell -4 counterbalance -1fow
+3 reb + 1 supreme verdict + 1 explosives + 1 disenchant

The combination of Standstill + Manlands + Vial + island walk is really thought

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Originally Posted by order

I am having problems to beat merfoks ( with chalice of the void main deck). Am i doing something wrong?

What i do

1. I alwayes FOW their firts aether vial. For me is by far their best card against us.

2. With ponder build, i side thiss way
-1 counterspell -4 counterbalance -1fow
+3 reb + 1 supreme verdict + 1 explosives + 1 disenchant

The combination of Standstill + Manlands + Vial + island walk is really thought

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Merfolk is a terrible matchup for Miracles. If you run Moat or Stoneforge Mystic, it makes the matchup less awful, but you're still an underdog.

I got 3rd at a local 1k yesterday with sort of hybrid miracles list, that was geared towards my weird local meta of tons of Elves, maverick, D&T, Delver and skilled players playing rogue stuff (and notably little combo or other miracles). Stuff like the Venser, 3 MD FoW, 3 MD counterbalance, staticaster and the MD clique/karakas were meta calls.

This is the list I used, I would not recommend anyone copy it, but it did work well for the event:
1 Karakas
1 Arid Mesa
4 Flooded Strand
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Dig Through Time

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Terminus
1 Council's Judgment

3 Counterbalance
4 Sensei's Divining Top

3 Force of Will
2 Counterspell

2 Entreat the Angels
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique

Sideboard:
2 Containment Priest
1 Counterbalance
1 Force of Will
1 Disenchant
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Flusterstorm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pyroblast
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

Matchups:
2-0 BUG brew with Bob, lily, a small entomb package, unearth and scab ruinator.
2-0 UWR Delver
2-0 UR Delver with 4 Digs, 4 Pyros, no snaps.
2-1 UR Delver with no digs, no pyros, 4 snaps and more burn.
ID with Grixis Delver
ID with 4 Ponder Miracles (the only other miracles in the room)
- I was 1st seed at the end of round 5, and would have played around round 6 to stay on top, but my opponent was a friend of mine and we just went and got food instead.
- The other top 8 was Grixis Delver, 4 ponder miracles, Deathblade, 2 UWR delver, UB Tezzeret, UR delver with Snaps/burn.
2-1 UWR Delver (same opponent as before): He had a sweet play the game he won. I was at 4 and he had batterskull, SFM and meddling mage naming verdict, but he cast a 2nd mystic "to play around council's judgment or something". A few turns prior he debated wasting me off of 6 lands and ended up going for it. Now on my last turn, I had 5 lands, untapped and drew a 6th land to add to my hand of Judgment, Verdict, and EE. He played around exactly the right cards.
0-2 Grixis Delver: I am like 0-6 to this deck. Its like RUG delver, but instead of goyf they have pyromancer which is way better and they have 4 probe and 4 therapy. Part of the reason I put Karakas back in the MD was to help vs decks like this with Tasigur. He is the real deal, but karakas makes him pretty awkward. I kept my opponent off of Tasigur for a few turns, but wasteland eventually let him push through.

Grixis and UB Tezzeret split in the finals.

Going forward, I will do 2 Dig Through Times and 2 Jaces. I sided out Jaces against every delver deck and would do the same vs most combo, but Dig is awesome in basically every matchup. Anyone not playing AT LEAST one dig, needs to change that. Depending on how much Lilana and Tasigur see play in bigger metas, I may or may not keep Karakas and Clique in the MD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by order

I am having problems to beat merfoks ( with chalice of the void main deck). Am i doing something wrong?

What i do

1. I alwayes FOW their firts aether vial. For me is by far their best card against us.

2. With ponder build, i side thiss way
-1 counterspell -4 counterbalance -1fow
+3 reb + 1 supreme verdict + 1 explosives + 1 disenchant

The combination of Standstill + Manlands + Vial + island walk is really thought

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This is one match-up where Supreme Verdict is a lot better. If he's running chalice instead of standstill, you might just want to focus on chalice and let Vial go.

Hi. I would like to discuss some general boarding strategies with you. I think I have covered most of the tier 1 decks (except for elves) so I would like to focus on some of the established decks.
I am well aware of the fact, that you should always adapt theses plans to the specifics of your opponents deck but a general approach would still help to improve the sideboarding.
For the sake of simplicity let us refer to Ein’s latest list, which can be found here:
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...p?DeckID=79293

1) Elves:

-3 Jace
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 Disenchant

Questions:
a) Would you bring in the disenchant? They will likely bring in things like Choke or Null Rod which gets handled by Disenchant. But on the other hand: Disenchant does nothing against their combo.
b) Would you bring in Clique? If yes, what else can be sided out?

2) Jund:

- 4 FoW
-4 Counterbalance
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant (vs Library)
+ 2 Clique (vs Liliana)
+ 1 Flusterstorm (vs early hand disruption)
+ 1 Relic of P. (vs P. fire)
+ 1 Supreme Verdict (not sure, if this is correct)
+ 1 Counterspell

Questions:
a) I have a hard time figuring out whether Counterbalance should stay or not. They are an abrupt decay deck but as long as CB stays on the table most of their spells probably won’t resolve . Is it correct to side out CB?
b) What else would you change to my boarding plan?

3) MUD

-4 Counterbalance
-1 Swords
+ 3 Clique
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant

Questions: Any advice for a better plan?

4) Dredge

-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Jace
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Relic of P.

Questions:
Honestly, I’m not sure what to take out. Would you side out CB instead - if so, what else to bring in?

5) Painter

-??
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 3 Clique

Questions: I want to bring in these 5 cards, but which cards should leave the mb?

6) Maverick

- 4 FoW
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 1 Relic of P.

Questions: Would you bring in Clique to get rid of things like Batterskull? If so, what else to cut from the mb?

7) Reanimator

- 4 Terminus
- 4 Swords
-2 Entreat
+ 1 Relic of P.
+ 3 Flusterstorm
+ 1 Counterspell
+ 2 Clique
+ 2 REB
+ 1 Pyroblast

Questions: My thoughts were to board pretty much the same way as vs Sneak n Show: Just don’t let any creature hit their battlefield by countering all their relevant spells. Maybe this plan is too risky, if they somehow manage to reanimate something? What is your approach here: Do you keep some Terminus for games 2/3?

8) Infect

-??
-??
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 3 Clique
+ 3 Flusterstorm

Questions: I want to bring in these 8 cards, but which cards should leave the mb? Terminus, FoW and Swords have to stay. Counterbalance is not bad either…

Quote:

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Originally Posted by strom

Hi. I would like to discuss some general boarding strategies with you. I think I have covered most of the tier 1 decks (except for elves) so I would like to focus on some of the established decks.
I am well aware of the fact, that you should always adapt theses plans to the specifics of your opponents deck but a general approach would still help to improve the sideboarding.
For the sake of simplicity let us refer to Ein’s latest list, which can be found here:
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckd...p?DeckID=79293

1) Elves:

-3 Jace
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 Disenchant

-1 Plains
+1 Counterspell

We want Counterspell since it is a natural answer to their combo as well as problematic cards they may have in Choke, Null Rod, and Pithing Needle. Taking out Plains against Elves is an option because they are a combo deck that does not pressure our manabase. I am of the opinion that Plains becomes the next weakest card against Elves after JTMS due to the fact that all the other spells we play are simply more impactful - they either interact with the opponents creatures (removal), combo (countermagic), or enable us to more easily cast our cards (fetches/duals).


Questions:
a) Would you bring in the disenchant? They will likely bring in things like Choke or Null Rod which gets handled by Disenchant. But on the other hand: Disenchant does nothing against their combo.

Yes. Not being able to play the game because our opponent has locked us out seems almost ironic. It's ok that it doesn't do anything against their combo because we naturally have large amounts of hate already.

b) Would you bring in Clique? If yes, what else can be sided out?

No, I would not. The idea here is that Clique is pretty much only good because it disrupts the combo (it blocks poorly, entreat is a better finisher, cmc 3 isn't what we want for cb). However, because we already have so much hate for the combo, Clique isn't really that necessary.

2) Jund:

-4 FoW
-4 Counterbalance
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant (vs Library)
+ 2 Clique (vs Liliana)
+ 1 Flusterstorm (vs early hand disruption)
+ 1 Relic of P. (vs P. fire)
+ 1 Supreme Verdict (not sure, if this is correct)
+ 1 Counterspell

-4 FoW
-4 Counterbalance
-1 JTMS
+1 EE
+1 Disenchant
+3 VC
+1 Relic
+1 Entreat
+1 Counterspell
+1 Supreme Verdict

Firstly, Entreat is big game against this deck (and BGx decks in general). An EOT Entreat for 3 or 4 is backbreaking - Jund can handle maybe 1 or 2 angels, but in larger amounts, the deck struggles. Secondly, boarding in the Flusterstorm to fight discard is unnecessary because we have the best weapon against discard: Sensei's Divining Top. Thirdly, I like the 3rd Vendilion Clique because I want to consistently see the card when I play against Jund. It's not great against Punshing Fire, but it's so strong against Liliana that I think it is worth it. Jace has historically been bad against Bloodbraid Elf and Punshing Fire, and Supreme Verdict is an additional way to catch up if you're behind.

Questions:
a) I have a hard time figuring out whether Counterbalance should stay or not. They are an abrupt decay deck but as long as CB stays on the table most of their spells probably won’t resolve . Is it correct to side out CB?

Here is what I think Philipp wrote a while back:

VS. Jund with PF
-4 FoW
-4 CB
-2 JTMS (my notes say -3 JTMS, but I only see 10 cards coming in, so leaving 1 in)
+2 RIP
+1 Keranos
+1 Council's Judgment
+1 Counterspell
+1 Disenchant
+2 V. Clique
+2 EE

VS. Jund without PF
-4 FoW
-2 JTMS
+2 RIP
+1 Keranos
+1 Council's Judgment
+2 EE

See if you can piece together any conclusions based on what's going on here, and post them!


b) What else would you change to my boarding plan?

Listed above.

3) MUD

-4 Counterbalance
-1 Swords
+ 3 Clique
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant

Questions: Any advice for a better plan?

I have literally no idea. But -4 Counterbalance for sure. Other cards I'm looking at are Counterspell, Supreme Verdict, and Entreat, but perhaps those are unnecessary. Also, some lists play Cavern of Souls, making Counterspell not that great. I'd probably keep in the 4th STP because between Lodestone, Kuldotha, and Metalworker, there are a lot of creatures you want to kill. If you see they are playing Cavern of Souls, you can take out the Counterspell for Clique #3. Then again, this may not be right because there are problematic cards like Staff of Nin, Spine, and Coercive Portal that come out of the MUD decks.

4) Dredge

-1 Council's Judgment
-1 Jace
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Relic of P.

+2 REB
+1 Pyroblast
+1 Relic of P.
+3 VClique
+1 EE
+2 Flusterstorm
-4 Counterbalance
-3 JTMS
-1 Council's Judgment
-2 Plains

Questions:
Honestly, I’m not sure what to take out. Would you side out CB instead - if so, what else to bring in?

To be fair, neither am I. What I posted above is not something I think is 100% correct, but is something I would try based on my understanding of the deck and matchup. Briefly:
Blast effects - good for killing your creatures to remove their bridges, also stops breakthrough and can kill a Narcomeba (on the offchance that you actually want to).
Flusterstorm - good for stopping the t1/t2 cantrips that enable Dredge to be so explosive.
Clique - a creature that can block and die, also can manipulate your draws

Counterbalance - the card is mediocre and doesn't really interact with what they are doing outside of stopping Cabal Therapy. Unless your opponent has a really REALLY bad draw, there are other, more interactive things you can be doing instead.
JTMS - too slow, doesn't interact.
Council's Judgment - does very little, better cards in sideboard
2 Plains - I'm not really sure about this. I was looking at the list and I kind of want to keep everything else... since Dredge doesn't touch your manabase, I figure why not. You don't need that many lands to fight in this matchup, and the Plains are definitely the weakest lands.

5) Painter

-??
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 3 Clique

Questions: I want to bring in these 5 cards, but which cards should leave the mb?

Also don't have too great an idea here. I'm not sure if you want Cliques in this matchup, as it's not a great win condition in the face of Ensnaring Bridge. If I were to hazard something I'd be willing to post online, it would look like:

-3 JTMS
+1 Counterspell
+1 Disenchant
+1 EE

6) Maverick

- 4 FoW
+ 1 Supreme Verdict
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 1 Relic of P.

-4 FoW
-4 CB
+3 VC
+1 Verdict
+1 EE
+1 Disenchant
+1 ETA
+1 Counterspell

Questions: Would you bring in Clique to get rid of things like Batterskull? If so, what else to cut from the mb?

In BGx matchups, I find that you have to play the game quite fairly. You will win because your "fair" cards are bombs like Terminus, Jace, and Entreat the Angels. Counterbalance in the face of a deck with Abrupt Decay and a very fleshed out curve is not good. Similarly, the card disadvantage of Force of Will is also unappealing. I think most of the cards being brought in here are self-explanatory. RE: Vendilion Clique - I like the card in this matchup because sniping Sword of Fire and Ice is very, very crucial. The card (for me) has been very problematic and is usually why I lose games to Maverick (can't block with Snap, can't bounce with Jace, etc).

7) Reanimator

- 4 Terminus
- 4 Swords
-2 Entreat
+ 1 Relic of P.
+ 3 Flusterstorm
+ 1 Counterspell
+ 2 Clique
+ 2 REB
+ 1 Pyroblast

-4 Terminus
-2 Entreat
-1 Jace
-2 Plains
-2 STP
+2 REB
+1 Pyro
+1 Relic
+3 VC
+1 Counterspell
+3 Flusterstorm

Questions: My thoughts were to board pretty much the same way as vs Sneak n Show: Just don’t let any creature hit their battlefield by countering all their relevant spells. Maybe this plan is too risky, if they somehow manage to reanimate something? What is your approach here: Do you keep some Terminus for games 2/3?

I think the biggest difference between Reanimator and Show and Tell is that Swords to Plowshares is actually not that bad against Reanimator. I would keep STP over Terminus just because its a bit more flexible. However, I'm not sure of two things

a) Whether STP should be in postboard
b) Whether the Blast effects are necessary, and if they are, do we need all 3 postboard?

Either way, this is a potential way to side. You could do some variation, like +1 Plains, -1 Blast

8) Infect

-??
-??
+ 1 EE
+ 1 Disenchant
+ 3 Clique
+ 3 Flusterstorm

-3 JTMS
-4 FoW
-1 Counterspell
+1 EE
+1 Disenchant
+2 REB
+1 Pyroblast
+3 Flusterstorm

Questions: I want to bring in these 8 cards, but which cards should leave the mb? Terminus, FoW and Swords have to stay. Counterbalance is not bad either…

Counterbalance is great in this matchup! Assuming you are alive to cast and resolve it. I don't like Jace here, for pretty obvious reasons. It's just way too slow. I want the REBs to fight their countermagic. Also REB is a removal spell against Blighted Agent, which is super helpful. Taking out the Force of Wills seems suspect to me, but I think having countermagic in the form of REB and Flusterstorm is sufficient to make up in the countermagic department.

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Comments in red. I won't argue that everything I wrote is necessarily 100% correct, but I think it is a good place to begin a discussion, if we do.

on a side note - streaming the 7:30 legacy daily

www.twitch.tv/anzi104

first time streaming, so i'm a little nervous!

EDIT: ... and I got the round 1 bye....

EDIT: ...into a 4-0!

List: Philipp's list

R1: Bye

R2: Storm 2-1
G1: He tries to go off turn 1 with Ritual into Duress into LED/Infernal Tutor. Doesn't do the math right and is short 1 mana for the kill.
In: 1x EE, 1x Cspell, 3x Flusterstorm, 3x REB, 3x VC
Out: 4x Terminus, 1x STP, 2x Entreat, 2x Plains, -1 Cjudgment, -1 Jace or STP #2 (can't remember)
G2: He goes t2 Dark Confidant, I'm able to answer it eventually but then out of the blue goes LED -> LED -> Empty and I can't find my EE
Out: 2 REB,
In: 2 Terminus
G3: An early countertop lock meets an Abrupt Decay to the face. He attempts to combo off with only 1 black source, so he has to ritual first. Then he casts Duress, to which I respond with a Clique. His hand is Tutor + rituals. He fails to reassemble in time and Jace seals the game. Notable play - he played an EE on 4 to kill Jace and I incorrectly FoW'd it, when I could have just used my own EE to pop his EE (he was tapped out after casting EE with an LED up).

R3: BUG Delver
G1: Don't see too much removal, lose to an aggressive start that includes Delver, DRS, and Goyf.
In: 1x EE, 1x Disenchant, 3x Flusterstorm, 3x VC, 1x Verdict
Out: 4x FOW, 4x CB, 1x Cspell
G2: Details are fuzzy, but it boils down to an active top drawing me into Jace, which stalls by unsummoning Goyf until I control.
In: -
Out: -
Note: I considered bringing in the 3rd Entreat over a 3rd Flusterstorm, but opted not to. I saw Dark Confidant somewhere G1, and hypothesized that he was running Jim Davis's list from the SCG, which includes Stifles. So, I kept the 3rd Flusterstorm over the Entreat. The reason I considered the 3rd Entreat was because I figured the games were going to go long, and in longer games where my opponent is not casting multiple spells a turn, Flusterstorm's value depreciates. However, playing around potential Stifles (which I saw in G2) seemed stronger.
G3: He mulligans, and my hand is removal heavy. Dig Through Time is a fantastic card.

R4: Grixis Delver w/ DTT
G1: My opening hand has 2 miracles, a Swords, and a Counterbalance. I opt to keep in the dark. It turns out those miracles end up biting me because the turn I am about stabilize, I hardcast Jace to brainstorm the miracles away, and he kills me with bolts.
In: 1x EE, 3x Flusterstorm, 3x VC, 1x Verdict
Out: 4x FoW, 1x CS, 3x JTMS
G2: An early countertop wins the game. I am able to ETA for 1 on turn 4 - he casts Pyromancer and Sulfuric Vortex. My clock is faster than his and I win.
In: 1x Disenchant
Out: 1x Vendilion Clique
Note: I don't remember whether I saw Wasteland, but if there weren't I was considering taking out a Plains, a Flusterstorm, or a VC for the Disenchant (to answer Vortex). I ended up taking the 3rd VC out on the basis that Flusterstorm and lands are good against taxing counters.
G3: He mulligans, and my hand is very removal heavy (Snapcaster, EE, Plow). I stabilize very quickly after using Flusterstorms to counter his DTT twice and CounterTop takes it away.

Fun experience, streaming is actually a very good way to think things through. I did slip up a couple times, accidentally casting Flusterstorms like an idiot, but overall it was a good learning experience. If anyone watched (haha.) and has any feedback, it would be much appreciated! I will most likely be streaming again tomorrow or later this week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AnziD

on a side note - streaming the 7:30 legacy daily

www.twitch.tv/anzi104

Fun experience, streaming is actually a very good way to think things through. I did slip up a couple times, accidentally casting Flusterstorms like an idiot, but overall it was a good learning experience. If anyone watched (haha.) and has any feedback, it would be much appreciated! I will most likely be streaming again tomorrow or later this week.

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If I ever have a chance I'll try and tune in for your future streaming. Do continue to do so. It'd be nice to see someone streaming Ein's list even if they aren't Godly good with Miracles like him :wink:

Enjoyed ur streaming THx and keep up the good work!